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Joplin, One Year Later

Iowa Public Radio | By Ben Kieffer
Published May 21, 2012 at 5:30 AM CDT
Ian Coday and Martha Goldman with a glass shard from their former home. The tornado leveled their neighborhood. The couple hid in their closet, which turned out to be the only part of the house left standing.
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Ian Coday and Martha Goldman with a glass shard from their former home. The tornado leveled their neighborhood. The couple hid in their closet, which turned out to be the only part of the house left standing.
Liam Kieffer
IPR’s Ben Kieffer interviewing survivors Ian Coday and Martha Goldman outside the newly rebuilt Dude’s Daylight Donuts in Joplin. Both the donut shop and the couple’s house were destroyed by the EF5 tornado that struck May 22, 2011, killing 160 people.
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IPR’s Ben Kieffer interviewing survivors Ian Coday and Martha Goldman outside the newly rebuilt Dude’s Daylight Donuts in Joplin. Both the donut shop and the couple’s house were destroyed by the EF5 tornado that struck May 22, 2011, killing 160 people.
Liam Kieffer
Martha Goldman with her original painting inspired by the storm.
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Martha Goldman with her original painting inspired by the storm.
Liam Kieffer
A former neighborhood in Joplin ten months after the tornado.
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A former neighborhood in Joplin ten months after the tornado.
Liam Kieffer

One year ago – on May 22, 2011 – one of the deadliest tornados in U.S. history struck the city of Joplin, Missouri. The twister killed 160 people and injured hundreds more.

Recently, IPR’s Ben Kieffer traveled to Joplin to talk with tornado survivors. 

He also spoke with researchers from Iowa State University who went to Joplin in the immediate aftermath. They surveyed structural damage to find out what it reveals about how best to survive a tornado.  
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Environment Weather
Ben Kieffer
Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River
See stories by Ben Kieffer